Outlaw Trail Ride 2013 ride report.
First and only 100 miler for my Ironman Florida 2013 training season!
The weather promised to be stormy, but instead we got warm and humid and windy the whole time.
Pre-ride with David, Betsy, Matt, me, Karen and Eva
Karen and I set out as they were singing the National Anthem, not wanting to get caught up in the mass start, and sailed along for many wonderful miles with the wind at our backs (and tons of people passing us, as the mass start happened). We weren't necessarily always conscious of the wind being at our backs, things were just pleasant and low effort.
We stopped at the mile 30 aid station to refill fluids and pee, and eat a sugar cookie. The most delicious sugar cookie ever. Nicki rode by us while were stopped, and then we ended up catching up to her when we started going in. She tucked in behind us for a while, then we all started chatting, then a random guy tucked in behind all of us, clandestinely drafting as we headed into the wind on the interminable bridge across the made-up Granger Lake.
Just across the bridge was an aid station, where we stopped to refill again, and found everyone! Pam and the TriZones Florida crew, and Chris, who was out doing his 130 mile ride in prep for Ultraman Florida! Karen and I refilled fluids, offloaded fluids, got more sugar cookies, then took off again, trying to keep our stops and stopping times to a minimum.
Miles and miles of singing and stories, kept launching my rear bottle (need to put some new rubberbands back there), did some nice drift over what looked like bad road, but was actually loose sandy gravel (but stayed upright!), rode through several tiny barely-towns, rode up more hills than Karen was anticipating, but were still delighted in how unhilly this ride was, and just generally had a lovely, if crotch-sore, time.
Stopped one last time at the mile 75ish aid station, impressed that we were at mile 75 and had been so busy chatting that we hadn't really noticed. Refilled fluids one last time (they told us there was one more aid station, but that hardly seemed worth stopping), got more sugar cookies even though they had thoroughly lost their luster at that point, and headed out for our last stint. Into the wind.
Things got tough that last section. As I slowed down, I remembered that Karen had mentioned Kelly telling her to ride easy the first 75, then push it in the last 25. We only had 15 or so left at that point, but Karen most definitely was not pushing it. I told her not to stay with me, to go do as Kelly had instructed. She made sure I was sure, which I was, and she picked it up. She told me to stay on her wheel and she'd pull me in. I told her that wasn't likely, but I tried. For about 30 seconds, then she slowly pedaled off further and further into the distance.
This wasn't the most fun part for me. I had glanced down at my computer when Karen picked it up, and saw I was averaging just under 16mph for the ride so far. I watched that average drop over the next hour or so. I don't think it was a nutrition or hydration failure (maybe possibly a little short on calories, but not much), I think it was just the hard week of workouts combined with a lot of miles and a headwind. I stayed as positive as I could, which I'm fairly proud of, and just kept pushing as hard as I was able.
Eventually I slowly made my way back to the park, wondering if I was going to have enough course to make it to 100 miles, or whether I was going to be doing parking lot loops. After 2 rides so far this year of 95 and 96 miles, I decided this one was going to be 100 no matter what. Just for the mental aspect. It would make no difference physically.
As I hit mile 99, Karen pulled out of a side lot to join me, to finish together. We wound around the park, and hit 100 miles just as we approached the finish line structure. We smiled for Matt and his camera, cheered for the cheering people, then did a high-five for the finish-line photographer, managing to not push each other over, even though we were both tired and not particularly graceful at the best of times.
Matt got several pictures of us, and g+ auto-awesomed them into this panoramic where me and Karen are being followed by 4 other mes and Karens, click to embiggen
Yay, 100 miles! I'm really hoping it's not so windy in Florida, but I'm well aware that it has a very likely chance of being so. Or worse. That's a thing Florida does. But I know I can do it. I just may not love it. So it was good practice!
And then I had 2 slices of celebratory pizza and a diet coke. So worth it.
(Oh, and when we got in the car, the car said it was 102, which helps explain some of the hardness at the end. Even after the parking lot effect wore off, it was 95 degrees. Not exactly what was forecast.)
The weather promised to be stormy, but instead we got warm and humid and windy the whole time.
Pre-ride with David, Betsy, Matt, me, Karen and Eva
Karen and I set out as they were singing the National Anthem, not wanting to get caught up in the mass start, and sailed along for many wonderful miles with the wind at our backs (and tons of people passing us, as the mass start happened). We weren't necessarily always conscious of the wind being at our backs, things were just pleasant and low effort.
We stopped at the mile 30 aid station to refill fluids and pee, and eat a sugar cookie. The most delicious sugar cookie ever. Nicki rode by us while were stopped, and then we ended up catching up to her when we started going in. She tucked in behind us for a while, then we all started chatting, then a random guy tucked in behind all of us, clandestinely drafting as we headed into the wind on the interminable bridge across the made-up Granger Lake.
Just across the bridge was an aid station, where we stopped to refill again, and found everyone! Pam and the TriZones Florida crew, and Chris, who was out doing his 130 mile ride in prep for Ultraman Florida! Karen and I refilled fluids, offloaded fluids, got more sugar cookies, then took off again, trying to keep our stops and stopping times to a minimum.
Miles and miles of singing and stories, kept launching my rear bottle (need to put some new rubberbands back there), did some nice drift over what looked like bad road, but was actually loose sandy gravel (but stayed upright!), rode through several tiny barely-towns, rode up more hills than Karen was anticipating, but were still delighted in how unhilly this ride was, and just generally had a lovely, if crotch-sore, time.
Stopped one last time at the mile 75ish aid station, impressed that we were at mile 75 and had been so busy chatting that we hadn't really noticed. Refilled fluids one last time (they told us there was one more aid station, but that hardly seemed worth stopping), got more sugar cookies even though they had thoroughly lost their luster at that point, and headed out for our last stint. Into the wind.
Things got tough that last section. As I slowed down, I remembered that Karen had mentioned Kelly telling her to ride easy the first 75, then push it in the last 25. We only had 15 or so left at that point, but Karen most definitely was not pushing it. I told her not to stay with me, to go do as Kelly had instructed. She made sure I was sure, which I was, and she picked it up. She told me to stay on her wheel and she'd pull me in. I told her that wasn't likely, but I tried. For about 30 seconds, then she slowly pedaled off further and further into the distance.
This wasn't the most fun part for me. I had glanced down at my computer when Karen picked it up, and saw I was averaging just under 16mph for the ride so far. I watched that average drop over the next hour or so. I don't think it was a nutrition or hydration failure (maybe possibly a little short on calories, but not much), I think it was just the hard week of workouts combined with a lot of miles and a headwind. I stayed as positive as I could, which I'm fairly proud of, and just kept pushing as hard as I was able.
Eventually I slowly made my way back to the park, wondering if I was going to have enough course to make it to 100 miles, or whether I was going to be doing parking lot loops. After 2 rides so far this year of 95 and 96 miles, I decided this one was going to be 100 no matter what. Just for the mental aspect. It would make no difference physically.
As I hit mile 99, Karen pulled out of a side lot to join me, to finish together. We wound around the park, and hit 100 miles just as we approached the finish line structure. We smiled for Matt and his camera, cheered for the cheering people, then did a high-five for the finish-line photographer, managing to not push each other over, even though we were both tired and not particularly graceful at the best of times.
Matt got several pictures of us, and g+ auto-awesomed them into this panoramic where me and Karen are being followed by 4 other mes and Karens, click to embiggen
Yay, 100 miles! I'm really hoping it's not so windy in Florida, but I'm well aware that it has a very likely chance of being so. Or worse. That's a thing Florida does. But I know I can do it. I just may not love it. So it was good practice!
And then I had 2 slices of celebratory pizza and a diet coke. So worth it.
(Oh, and when we got in the car, the car said it was 102, which helps explain some of the hardness at the end. Even after the parking lot effect wore off, it was 95 degrees. Not exactly what was forecast.)